Watertown's Seamus Doyle has key role in 'Richard III' on Boston Common

By Alexander Stevens, Correspondent

Wednesday

Jul 11, 2018 at 2:00 PMJul 18, 2018 at 11:31 AM

Seamus Doyle has about the best summer job a 15-year-old could imagine.

The Watertown resident plays the young Prince Edward in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “Richard III,” running July 18 to Aug. 5 on the Boston Common. During the fortnight of shows, he’ll perform for about 100,000 people.

“I’ve never really had stage fright, but I’ve never been on a stage this big,” says Seamus, a student at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge. “Sometimes I get nervous when I think about it, but I’m confident I’ll know what I’m doing. Once the show starts, it flows. You’re not thinking about the audience.”

You know a youngster has talent when they get cast as Nick Bottom, one of Shakespeare’s best comic roles. Seamus played the part for the Watertown Children’s Theatre, and he started getting his head (and mouth) around the crazy verbal stylings of this guy named Shakespeare.

“I’ve done Shakespeare summer camps, and I really enjoy them,” he says. “You need to understand exactly what you’re saying and why you’re saying it. It can get confusing; it’s almost like doing a translation [from a different language]. But the language is beautiful, and once you understand it, it’s very rewarding.”

The part of Prince Edward isn’t huge, but it’s important. He has a key scene with the notorious Richard III, who has bad intentions, when it comes to the teenage prince.

Prince Edward “doesn’t know everything that’s going on,” says Seamus, “but he is more aware than many of the people in the show. He’s definitely suspicious. And perceptive. He would have been a good king.”